Out-of-Pocket Blog
Some Common Mistakes to Avoid When Pitching Angels | Out-Of-Pocket
With some real decks and emails!
10 months ago
With some real decks and emails!
Asterisk
Between the Lines: A History of the Most Important Concept in Global Poverty
The global poverty line helps determine how billions of dollars in aid are allocated. But where did...
a year ago
The global poverty line helps determine how billions of dollars in aid are allocated. But where did the idea of measuring poverty come from — and how might it be holding us back?
NeuroLogica Blog
Neuralink Implants Chip in Human
Elon Musk has announced that his company, Neuralink, has implanted their first wireless computer...
10 months ago
Elon Musk has announced that his company, Neuralink, has implanted their first wireless computer chip into a human. The chip, which they plan on calling Telepathy (not sure how I feel about that) connects with 64 thin hair-like electrodes, is battery powered and can be recharged...
Math Is Still...
The AI Tools Making Images Look Better
Researchers have discovered ways around a fundamental trade-off between accuracy and beauty in...
a year ago
Researchers have discovered ways around a fundamental trade-off between accuracy and beauty in digital images.
The post The AI Tools Making Images Look Better first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
World Events and the Conspiracy Instinct
By now most people have heard that on Saturday there was a failed assassination attempt on candidate...
5 months ago
By now most people have heard that on Saturday there was a failed assassination attempt on candidate Trump at a rally. While it has only been a few days, preliminary investigation has found that 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, using a AR style rifle purchased legally by his...
Math Is Still...
Does AI Know What an Apple Is? She Aims to Find Out.
The computer scientist Ellie Pavlick is translating philosophical concepts such as “meaning” into...
8 months ago
The computer scientist Ellie Pavlick is translating philosophical concepts such as “meaning” into concrete, testable ideas.
The post Does AI Know What an Apple Is? She Aims to Find Out. first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Six Healthcare Startup Ideas | Out-Of-Pocket
In collaboration with The Generalist
a year ago
In collaboration with The Generalist
NeuroLogica Blog
Regret After Transitioning
In my last post I noted that even mentioning general vague support for the LGBTQ community was...
a year ago
In my last post I noted that even mentioning general vague support for the LGBTQ community was enough to trigger very specific feedback, often making erroneous scientific claims. Each claim requires a deep dive and article-length discussion. Even though the discussion that...
Math Is Still...
What Your Brain Is Doing When You’re Not Doing Anything
When your mind is wandering, your brain’s “default mode” network is active. Its discovery 20 years...
10 months ago
When your mind is wandering, your brain’s “default mode” network is active. Its discovery 20 years ago inspired a raft of research into networks of brain regions and how they interact with each other.
The post What Your Brain Is Doing When You’re Not Doing Anything...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Malpractice, Expert Witnesses, and Lawsuits with Dr. Eric Funk | Out-Of-Pocket
Suits and White Coats
a year ago
pcloadletter
Somewhere along the way we forgot about software craftsmanship
"Ship it!"
"We're agile now, baby. Move fast and break things!""
"We measure our engineers by the...
10 months ago
"Ship it!"
"We're agile now, baby. Move fast and break things!""
"We measure our engineers by the impact they have!"
Somewhere along the way, in the midst of the agilification of software, or the software engineer salary gold rush, we forgot about craftsmanship.
I have been in...
Math Is Still...
Novel Architecture Makes Neural Networks More Understandable
By tapping into a decades-old mathematical principle, researchers are hoping that Kolmogorov-Arnold...
3 months ago
By tapping into a decades-old mathematical principle, researchers are hoping that Kolmogorov-Arnold networks will facilitate scientific discovery.
The post Novel Architecture Makes Neural Networks More Understandable first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Probably...
Probably the Book
Last week I had the pleasure of presenting a keynote at posit::conf(2024). When the video is...
4 months ago
Last week I had the pleasure of presenting a keynote at posit::conf(2024). When the video is available, I will post it here. In the meantime, you can read the slides, if you don’t mind spoilers. For people at the conference who don’t know me, this might be a good time to...
Math Is Still...
Physicists Reveal a Quantum Geometry That Exists Outside of Space and Time
A decade after the discovery of the “amplituhedron,” physicists have excavated more of the timeless...
2 months ago
A decade after the discovery of the “amplituhedron,” physicists have excavated more of the timeless geometry underlying the standard picture of how particles move.
The post Physicists Reveal a Quantum Geometry That Exists Outside of Space and Time first appeared on...
IEEE Spectrum
50 Years Later, This Apollo-Era Antenna Still Talks to Voyager 2
For more than 50 years, Deep Space Station 43 has been an invaluable tool for space probes as they...
8 months ago
For more than 50 years, Deep Space Station 43 has been an invaluable tool for space probes as they explore our solar system and push into the beyond. The DSS-43 radio antenna, located at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, near Canberra, Australia, keeps open the line...
IEEE Spectrum
Sci-fi and Hi-fi
Many a technologist has been inspired by science fiction. Some have even built, or rebuilt, entire...
9 months ago
Many a technologist has been inspired by science fiction. Some have even built, or rebuilt, entire companies around an idea introduced in a story they read, as the founders of Second Life and Meta did, working from the metaverse as imagined by Neal Stephenson in his seminal 1992...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Maternity Care and Payer Contracting with Marta Bralic Kerns | Out-Of-Pocket
and some good tips for consultants working at startups
a year ago
and some good tips for consultants working at startups
Math Is Still...
Big Advance on Simple-Sounding Math Problem Was a Century in the Making
A new proof about prime numbers illuminates the subtle relationship between addition and...
2 months ago
A new proof about prime numbers illuminates the subtle relationship between addition and multiplication — and raises hopes for progress on the famous abc conjecture.
The post Big Advance on Simple-Sounding Math Problem Was a Century in the Making first appeared on...
Stephen Wolfram...
Can AI Solve Science?
Note: Click any diagram to get Wolfram Language code to reproduce it. Wolfram Language code for...
9 months ago
Note: Click any diagram to get Wolfram Language code to reproduce it. Wolfram Language code for training the neural nets used here is also available (requires GPU). Won’t AI Eventually Be Able to Do Everything? Particularly given its recent surprise successes, there’s a somewhat...
The Roots of...
What I’ve been reading, November 2023
A ~monthly feature. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find them in...
a year ago
A ~monthly feature. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find them in my links digests. All emphasis in bold in the quotes below was added by me.
Books
Finished Lynn White, Medieval Technology and Social Change (1962). Last time I talked about the...
Asterisk
China’s Policy Failures
China’s experimental policy regime catalyzed the country’s economic ascent. Today, the system seems...
10 months ago
China’s experimental policy regime catalyzed the country’s economic ascent. Today, the system seems incapable of providing effective governance.
Asterisk
Making Sense of Moral Change
A conversation about abolitionism, moral progress, and the pitfalls of historical counterfactuals.
over a year ago
A conversation about abolitionism, moral progress, and the pitfalls of historical counterfactuals.
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Part 2: How To Build Patient Communities | Out-Of-Pocket
And my investments in Most Days + Little Otter
a year ago
And my investments in Most Days + Little Otter
The Roots of...
Neither EA nor e/acc is what we need to build the future
Over the last few years, effective altruism has gone through a rise-and-fall story arc worthy of any...
a year ago
Over the last few years, effective altruism has gone through a rise-and-fall story arc worthy of any dramatic tragedy.
The pandemic made them look prescient for warning about global catastrophic risks, including biosafety. A masterful book launch put them on the cover of TIME....
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Air Quality, Breathing, and Health | Out-Of-Pocket
What we inhale is a public health issue
a year ago
What we inhale is a public health issue
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Exits & Outcomes Is Good | Out-Of-Pocket
moar newsletters
a year ago
Asterisk
Salt, Sugar, Water, Zinc: How Scientists Learned to Treat the 20th Century’s Biggest Killer of...
Oral rehydration therapy is now the standard treatment for dehydration. It’s saved millions of...
a year ago
Oral rehydration therapy is now the standard treatment for dehydration. It’s saved millions of lives, and can be prepared at home in minutes. So why did it take so long to discover?
Beautiful Public...
The Naughty Words the FAA Removed From the Sky
New FOIA records from the FAA shed light on the frantic effort in 2015 to rename navigation...
6 months ago
New FOIA records from the FAA shed light on the frantic effort in 2015 to rename navigation waypoints related to Donald Trump and reveal the list of naughty waypoint names that were changed over the years.
IEEE Spectrum
Granville T. Woods: Smartest Guy in the Room
Any home baker will confirm that, even if you have all the right ingredients and follow the recipe,...
a year ago
Any home baker will confirm that, even if you have all the right ingredients and follow the recipe, things don’t always turn out the way you envisioned. Such was the life of inventor extraordinaire Granville T. Woods.
Who was Granville T. Woods?
Woods was endowed with...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The Change Healthcare Debacle | Out-Of-Pocket
what are clearinghouses and do we still need them?
9 months ago
what are clearinghouses and do we still need them?
The Works in...
History is in the making
It's technology and ideas, not politics, that change our lives the most. History should reflect...
3 weeks ago
It's technology and ideas, not politics, that change our lives the most. History should reflect that.
The Works in...
To change a norm
How the war on drunk driving was won
6 months ago
How the war on drunk driving was won
NeuroLogica Blog
Power-To-X and Climate Change Policy
What is Power-to-X (PtX)? It’s just a fancy marketing term for green hydrogen – using green energy,...
2 weeks ago
What is Power-to-X (PtX)? It’s just a fancy marketing term for green hydrogen – using green energy, like wind, solar, nuclear, or hydroelectric, to make hydrogen from water. This process does not release any CO2, just oxygen, and when the hydrogen is burned back with that oxygen...
Drew Ex Machina
The Largest Launch Vehicles in Service – 1957 to the Present
With the successful launch of NASA’s Artemis I test flight, we now have a new holder of the title...
over a year ago
With the successful launch of NASA’s Artemis I test flight, we now have a new holder of the title “the largest launch vehicle in service”: the […]
Math Is Still...
Tiny Tweaks to Neurons Can Rewire Animal Motion
Altering a protein in the neurons that coordinate a rattlesnake’s movement made a slow slither...
9 months ago
Altering a protein in the neurons that coordinate a rattlesnake’s movement made a slow slither neuron more like a speedy rattle neuron, showing one way evolution can generate new ways of moving.
The post Tiny Tweaks to Neurons Can Rewire Animal Motion first appeared...
Math Is Still...
How Did Altruism Evolve?
If evolution favors the survival of the fittest, where did the impulse to help others come from?...
10 months ago
If evolution favors the survival of the fittest, where did the impulse to help others come from? Host Janna Levin speaks with Stephanie Preston, a neuropsychologist who studies the biology of altruism.
The post How Did Altruism Evolve? first appeared on Quanta...
The Roots of...
If you wish to make an apple pie, you must first become dictator of the universe
The word “robot” is derived from the Czech robota, which means “serfdom.” It was introduced over a...
a year ago
The word “robot” is derived from the Czech robota, which means “serfdom.” It was introduced over a century ago by the Czech play R.U.R., for “Rossum’s Universal Robots.” In the play, the smartest and best-educated of the robots leads a slave revolt that wipes out most of...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Musings on CVS, two-way negotiation, and venture studios | Out-Of-Pocket
+ we're hosting another dinner! and courses ending!
8 months ago
+ we're hosting another dinner! and courses ending!
Probably...
Multiple Regression with StatsModels
This is the third is a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science which available from...
2 weeks ago
This is the third is a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science which available from Lulu.com and online booksellers. It’s from Chapter 10, which is about multiple regression. You can read the complete chapter here, or run the Jupyter notebook on Colab. In the previous...
Math Is Still...
In a ‘Dark Dimension,’ Physicists Search for the Universe’s Missing Matter
An idea derived from string theory suggests that dark matter is hiding in a (relatively) large extra...
10 months ago
An idea derived from string theory suggests that dark matter is hiding in a (relatively) large extra dimension. The theory makes testable predictions that physicists are investigating now.
The post In a ‘Dark Dimension,’ Physicists Search for the Universe’s Missing...
NeuroLogica Blog
Reading The Mind with fMRI and AI
This is pretty exciting neuroscience news – Semantic reconstruction of continuous language from...
a year ago
This is pretty exciting neuroscience news – Semantic reconstruction of continuous language from non-invasive brain recordings. What this means is that researchers have been able to, sort of, decode the words that subjects were thinking of simply by reading their fMRI scan. They...
Blog - Practical...
HEAVY CONSTRUCTION of a Sewage Pump Station - Ep 4
This is the fourth episode of a five-part pilot series to gauge your interest in "How It's...
a year ago
This is the fourth episode of a five-part pilot series to gauge your interest in "How It's Made"-esque heavy construction videos. Drop a comment or send me an email to let me know what you think! Watch on YouTube above or ad-free on Nebula here.
brr
Pressure Altitude
Day-to-day variability at the South Pole.
a year ago
Day-to-day variability at the South Pole.
Probably...
Standard deviation of a count
This post is part of a new project with the working title Data Q&A: Answering the real questions...
8 months ago
This post is part of a new project with the working title Data Q&A: Answering the real questions with Python. In each installment, I’ll take a question from Reddit’s statistics forum and answer it, using Python code to demonstrate. My answer is in a Jupyter notebook — see the...
Math Is Still...
Physicists Finally Find a Problem That Only Quantum Computers Can Do
Researchers have shown that a problem relating to the energy of a quantum system is easy for quantum...
9 months ago
Researchers have shown that a problem relating to the energy of a quantum system is easy for quantum computers but hard for classical ones.
The post Physicists Finally Find a Problem That Only Quantum Computers Can Do first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Blog - Practical...
Why Are Rails Shaped Like That?
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Maybe more than any other type...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Maybe more than any other type of infrastructure, railways have a contingent of devoted enthusiasts. “Railfans” as they call themselves; Or should say “ourselves”? Maybe it's the nostalgia of an earlier era or...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Six Stages Of Health Tech Grief Pt. 1 | Out-Of-Pocket
we should pay people to be healthy + building a new EMR
a year ago
we should pay people to be healthy + building a new EMR
NeuroLogica Blog
Coaching with Empathy
The show Ted Lasso is about to wrap up its final season. I am one of the many people who really...
a year ago
The show Ted Lasso is about to wrap up its final season. I am one of the many people who really enjoy the show, which turns on a group of likable people helping each other through various life challenges with care and empathy. Lasso is an American college football coach who was...
nanoscale views
Chemical potential and banana waffles
The concept of chemical potential is one that seems almost deliberately obscure to many. I’ve...
a year ago
The concept of chemical potential is one that seems almost deliberately obscure to many. I’ve written about this here, and referenced this article. What you may not realize is that the chemical potential, of water in particular, plays a crucial role in why my banana waffle...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
How Much Info Should A Patient Get? | Out-Of-Pocket
A discussion question
a year ago
NeuroLogica Blog
New Type of Black Hole Discovered
ESA’s Gaia orbital telescope has recently discovered two new black holes. This, in itself, is not...
a year ago
ESA’s Gaia orbital telescope has recently discovered two new black holes. This, in itself, is not surprising, as that is Gaia’s mission – to precisely map the three-dimensional position of two billion objects in our galaxy, using three separate instruments. The process is called...
IEEE Spectrum
How Vannevar Bush Engineered the 20th Century
In the summer of 1945, Robert J. Oppenheimer and other key members of the Manhattan Project gathered...
6 months ago
In the summer of 1945, Robert J. Oppenheimer and other key members of the Manhattan Project gathered in New Mexico to witness the first atomic bomb test. Among the observers was Vannevar Bush, who had overseen the Manhattan Project and served as the sole liaison to U.S. President...
IEEE Spectrum
The Forgotten Story of How IBM Invented the Automated Fab
In 1970, Bill Harding envisioned a fully automated wafer-fabrication line that would produce...
3 weeks ago
In 1970, Bill Harding envisioned a fully automated wafer-fabrication line that would produce integrated circuits in less than one day. Not only was such a goal gutsy 54 years ago, it would be bold even in today’s billion-dollar fabs, where the fabrication time of an advanced IC...
symmetry magazine
Encouraging a new community
Physicists advocate for getting community college students involved in research.
a year ago
Physicists advocate for getting community college students involved in research.
NeuroLogica Blog
Indigenous Knowledge
I recently received the following question to the SGU e-mail: “I have had several conversations with...
8 months ago
I recently received the following question to the SGU e-mail: “I have had several conversations with friends/colleagues lately regarding indigenous beliefs/stories. They assert that not believing these based on oral histories alone is morally wrong and ignoring a different...
Asterisk
Moving Past Environmental Proceduralism
The foundations of modern environmental legislation were laid in the early ‘70s. Some of these laws...
8 months ago
The foundations of modern environmental legislation were laid in the early ‘70s. Some of these laws helped fix the ozone layer, clean up DDT, and fight lead pollution — while others are delaying the necessary transition to green energy. If the activists of fifty years ago had...
Damn Interesting
A Taste of Italy
In the mid-1800s, Italy was consumed by two parallel fights: one to rid itself of Austrian...
over a year ago
In the mid-1800s, Italy was consumed by two parallel fights: one to rid itself of Austrian domination (a holdover from the Holy Roman Empire) and the other for unification. At the time, Europe’s boot was a curious conglomeration of separate states, not all of which got along....
Casey Handmer's blog
Why do we need a Department of Government Efficiency?
President Trump’s recent sweeping electoral victory is a clear mandate for change. There is some...
2 weeks ago
President Trump’s recent sweeping electoral victory is a clear mandate for change. There is some urgency, and Trump has assembled the early stages of a team and coalition that can deliver it. It’s not exactly a mystery what Elon and Vivek plan for The Department of Government...
Beautiful Public...
The Mirror Fusion Test Facility
A decade-long effort to build a machine to unlock the promise of nuclear fusion fell victim to...
a year ago
A decade-long effort to build a machine to unlock the promise of nuclear fusion fell victim to budget constraints and competing science, and was shut down the day it was dedicated. It was never turned on.
NeuroLogica Blog
Marmosets Call Each Other By Name
Humans identify and call each other by specific names. So far this advanced cognitive behavior has...
3 months ago
Humans identify and call each other by specific names. So far this advanced cognitive behavior has only been identified in a few other species, dolphins, elephants, and some parrots. Interestingly, it has never been documented in our closest relatives, non-human primates – that...
The Works in...
Issue 11: Nuclear sandboxes
Plus: Why Britain can’t seem to fix its housing market, gene-edited super-rice, and one weird trick...
a year ago
Plus: Why Britain can’t seem to fix its housing market, gene-edited super-rice, and one weird trick to reverse climate change.
Blog - Practical...
Why Construction Projects Always Go Over Budget
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Boston, Massachusetts is one...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Boston, Massachusetts is one of the oldest cities in America, founded in 1630, more than a few years before the advent of modern motor vehicles. In the 1980s, traffic in downtown Boston was nearly unbearable...
NeuroLogica Blog
Living a Hybrid Life
The cultural effects of the COVID pandemic can still be felt reverberating through society. One of...
4 months ago
The cultural effects of the COVID pandemic can still be felt reverberating through society. One of the positive effects, in my opinion, was the sudden boost to remote technology – connecting remotely for meetings and other uses through Zoom or a similar application. This...
brr
The Last Egg
Five more months until freshies...
a year ago
Five more months until freshies...
Explorations of an...
Borneo: Tour Extension To Peninsular Malaysia
After the main Borneo tour had finished, eight of the travellers joined Laura and I on a tour...
a year ago
After the main Borneo tour had finished, eight of the travellers joined Laura and I on a tour extension to peninsular Malaysia. We split our time between two distinct regions: the foothill forests at Fraser’s Hill, and the steamy lowlands of Taman Negara.
Dusky Leaf Monkey -...
Math Is Still...
The Cosmos Teems with Complex Organic Molecules
Wherever astronomers look, they see life’s raw materials.
The post The Cosmos Teems with...
a month ago
Wherever astronomers look, they see life’s raw materials.
The post The Cosmos Teems with Complex Organic Molecules first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
New Proof Shows That ‘Expander’ Graphs Synchronize
The proof establishes new conditions that cause connected oscillators to sway in sync. ...
a year ago
The proof establishes new conditions that cause connected oscillators to sway in sync.
The post New Proof Shows That ‘Expander’ Graphs Synchronize first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Categorization and What’s In a Name
Categorization is critical in science, but it is also very tricky, often deceptively so. We need to...
11 months ago
Categorization is critical in science, but it is also very tricky, often deceptively so. We need to categorize things to help us organize our knowledge, to understand how things work and relate to each other, and to communicate efficiently and precisely. But categorization can...
Math Is Still...
What Does Milk Do for Babies?
Human nutrition begins with milk, but the wondrous biofluid does much more than feed babies. In this...
8 months ago
Human nutrition begins with milk, but the wondrous biofluid does much more than feed babies. In this episode, co-host Steven Strogatz speaks with molecular nutritionist Elizabeth Johnson about her research into the impact of human milk on a healthy microbiome.
The...
nanoscale views
AI/ML and condensed matter + materials science
Materials define the way we live. That may sound like an exaggeration that I like to spout because...
a year ago
Materials define the way we live. That may sound like an exaggeration that I like to spout because I'm a condensed matter physicist, but it's demonstrably true. Remember, past historians have given us terms like "Stone Age", "Bronze Age", and "Iron Age", and the "Information...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Healthcare, but funny | Out-Of-Pocket
US healthcare is a joke. Let's make it funny.
a year ago
US healthcare is a joke. Let's make it funny.
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The New Era Of Digital Therapeutics | Out-Of-Pocket
Guess it's time to start defining the term again
a year ago
Guess it's time to start defining the term again
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Eclipse of the Sun Coming in One Week
Saturday Oct. 14 North America will be treated to an eclipse of the Sun.
The post Eclipse of the Sun...
a year ago
Saturday Oct. 14 North America will be treated to an eclipse of the Sun.
The post Eclipse of the Sun Coming in One Week appeared first on Andrew Fraknoi - Astronomy Lectures - Astronomy Education Resources.
Beautiful Public...
Visualizing Rivers and Floodplains with USGS Data
Using USGS elevation data to visualize stunning views of the flow of water through rivers and...
over a year ago
Using USGS elevation data to visualize stunning views of the flow of water through rivers and floodplains.
Asterisk
Crash Testing GPT-4
Can we tell if an AI model is safe before it’s released? The group that tested GPT–4 is trying to...
a year ago
Can we tell if an AI model is safe before it’s released? The group that tested GPT–4 is trying to figure out how.
Out-of-Pocket Blog
How To Self-Publish A Children's Book and How Much You Can Expect To Make | Out-Of-Pocket
spoiler: you will make very little lol
a year ago
spoiler: you will make very little lol
ToughSF
Hypervelocity Macron Accelerators
We
look at the various ways of accelerating micro-scale projectiles up to hypervelocity
(10-10,000...
over a year ago
We
look at the various ways of accelerating micro-scale projectiles up to hypervelocity
(10-10,000 km/s) and their use in space.
Going
small to go fast
Macrons
or macroscopic particles are tiny projectiles that sit on the border between
the complex structures we see under a...
nanoscale views
Favorite science fiction invention?
In the forward-looking spirit of the New Year, it might be fun to get readers’ opinions of their...
a year ago
In the forward-looking spirit of the New Year, it might be fun to get readers’ opinions of their favorite science fiction inventions. I wrote about favorite sci-fi materials back in 2015, but let’s broaden the field. Personally, I’m a fan of the farcaster (spoiler warning!) from...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
My investing theses | Out-Of-Pocket
Hit up ya boi
a year ago
Explorations of an...
Chasing Endemics in Córdoba
Córdoba is the second most populated city in Argentina, located in the Punilla Valley around 600 km...
a year ago
Córdoba is the second most populated city in Argentina, located in the Punilla Valley around 600 km northwest of Buenos Aires. Laura and I spent one night in the city before our morning's birding. Our destination: the beautiful Sierras de Córdoba to the west of the city and...
Quantum Frontiers
The Book of Mark, Chapter 2
Late in the summer of 2021, I visited a physics paradise in a physical paradise: the Kavli Institute...
a year ago
Late in the summer of 2021, I visited a physics paradise in a physical paradise: the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP). The KITP sits at the edge of the University of California, Santa Barbara like a bougainvillea bush at … Continue reading →
NeuroLogica Blog
Will AI Make Work Redundant?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is coming for your job. This, at least, is increasingly conventional...
a year ago
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is coming for your job. This, at least, is increasingly conventional wisdom, but I’m not so sure. In a recent interview, Elon Musk predicted that AI would “make paid work redundant.” I encountered the same opinion watching the latest season of...
Blog - Practical...
Why There's a Legal Price for a Human Life
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
One of the very first...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
One of the very first documented engineering disasters happened in 27 AD in the early days of the Roman Empire. A freed slave named Atilius built a wooden amphitheater in a town called Fidenae outside of Rome....
Tikalon Blog by Dev...
US Independence Day
Tikalon is on a short holiday in celebration of US Independence Day, July 4, 2024. Our next article...
5 months ago
Tikalon is on a short holiday in celebration of US Independence Day, July 4, 2024. Our next article will be posted on Monday, July 15, 2024. View my version of the iconic image of George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River in which he encounters some unusually large...
NeuroLogica Blog
AC vs DC and other Power Questions
I was away last week, first at CSICON and then at a conference in Dubai. I was invited to give a 9...
a month ago
I was away last week, first at CSICON and then at a conference in Dubai. I was invited to give a 9 hour seminar on scientific skepticism for the Dubai Future Foundation. That sounds like a lot of time, but it isn’t. It was a good reminder of the vast body of knowledge that is...
Quantum Frontiers
A peek inside Northrop Grumman’s subatomic endeavors
As the weather turns colder and we trade outdoor pools for pumpkin spice and then Christmas carols,...
over a year ago
As the weather turns colder and we trade outdoor pools for pumpkin spice and then Christmas carols, perhaps you’re longing for summer’s warmth. For me, it is not just warmth I yearn for: This past summer, I worked as a … Continue reading →
Light from Space
The Path to the Pillars of Creation
Famously photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope, here's my first look at the Pillars of Creation...
over a year ago
Famously photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope, here's my first look at the Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula (Messier 16).
Total exposure time: 16h 5m
Shot from my driveway near Tucson, AZ in April & May 2022
Telescope: William Optics RedCat 51 (250mm focal length ƒ
NeuroLogica Blog
Latest Gallup Creationism Poll
Surveys are always tricky because how you ask a question can have a dramatic impact on how people...
5 months ago
Surveys are always tricky because how you ask a question can have a dramatic impact on how people answer. But it is useful to ask the exact same question over a long period of time, because that can indicate how public attitudes are changing. This is one of the benefits of...
Marine Madness
Book club: ‘Being Salmon Being Human’ by Martin Lee Mueller
Encountering the Wild in Us and Us in the Wild Norwegian and Pacific Northwest salmon industries...
over a year ago
Encountering the Wild in Us and Us in the Wild Norwegian and Pacific Northwest salmon industries remain largely overlooked and Martin Lee Mueller cleverly weaves the stories of artificially inseminated and reared salmon to highlight the long-standing notion of human...
Interaction Magic -...
Life beyond the screen
Since early 2020, I've been teaching courses in Interaction Technologies and Prototyping. Switches,...
over a year ago
Since early 2020, I've been teaching courses in Interaction Technologies and Prototyping. Switches, light, gesture, motion, sound, haptics: this is all about exploring life beyond the screen.
symmetry magazine
A different way of thinking
Neurodivergent physicists face barriers in STEM, but there are also benefits to being who they are.
a year ago
Neurodivergent physicists face barriers in STEM, but there are also benefits to being who they are.
The Roots of...
Highlights from The Industrial Revolution, by T. S. Ashton
The Industrial Revolution, 1760-1830, by Thomas S. Ashton, is classic in the field, published in...
a year ago
The Industrial Revolution, 1760-1830, by Thomas S. Ashton, is classic in the field, published in 1948. Here are some of my highlights from it. (Emphasis in bold added by me.)
The role of chance
What was the role of chance in the inventions of the Industrial Revolution?
It is true...
Math Is Still...
Cellular Self-Destruction May Be Ancient. But Why?
How did cells evolve a process to end their own lives? Recent research suggests that apoptosis, a...
9 months ago
How did cells evolve a process to end their own lives? Recent research suggests that apoptosis, a form of programmed cell death, first arose billions of years ago in bacteria with a primitive sociality.
The post Cellular Self-Destruction May Be Ancient. But Why? first...
Eukaryote Writes...
Will the growing deer prion epidemic spread to humans? Why not?
If a fatal neurological virus were spreading across deer in the US, and showed up in cooked infected...
a year ago
If a fatal neurological virus were spreading across deer in the US, and showed up in cooked infected meat, my default assumption would be “we're in danger.” But a prion isn’t a virus. Why does that matter?
Math Is Still...
What Are Sheaves?
These metaphorical gardens have become central objects in modern mathematics.
The post...
5 months ago
These metaphorical gardens have become central objects in modern mathematics.
The post What Are Sheaves? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
Topologists Tackle the Trouble With Poll Placement
Mathematicians are using topological abstractions to find places where it’s hard to vote. ...
9 months ago
Mathematicians are using topological abstractions to find places where it’s hard to vote.
The post Topologists Tackle the Trouble With Poll Placement first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Gene Editing Chickens to Resist Bird Flu
There are 33 billion chickens in the world, mostly domestic species raised for egg-laying or meat....
a year ago
There are 33 billion chickens in the world, mostly domestic species raised for egg-laying or meat. They are a high efficiency source of high quality protein. It’s the kind of thing we need to do if we want to feed 8 billion people. Similarly we have planted 4.62 billion acres of...
Many Worlds
Preparing For The Habitable Worlds Observatory, Our Best Shot at Finding ET Life
In a solar system far, far away, life of some sort is just waiting to be found. Or so the world of...
a year ago
In a solar system far, far away, life of some sort is just waiting to be found. Or so the world of astrobiology sure hopes it is. The new player in the astrobiology world, now called the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), is planned to launch in the 2040s if all goes well. ...
Asterisk
China’s Silicon Future
China dreams of competing with global superpowers in the semiconductor industry. Whether its efforts...
over a year ago
China dreams of competing with global superpowers in the semiconductor industry. Whether its efforts will succeed is far from clear.
Math Is Still...
What Is the Nature of Consciousness?
Consciousness, our experience of being in the world, is one of the mind’s greatest mysteries, but as...
a year ago
Consciousness, our experience of being in the world, is one of the mind’s greatest mysteries, but as the neuroscientist Anil Seth explains to Steven Strogatz, research is making progress in understanding this elusive phenomenon.
The post What Is the Nature of...
Inverted Passion
Notes from the book “Hooked”
I re-read the book Hooked by Nir Eyal and these are my notes. 1/ The key question that the book...
12 months ago
I re-read the book Hooked by Nir Eyal and these are my notes. 1/ The key question that the book answers is: how to make habit-forming products. And its answer is a model that involves four stages: a) trigger; b) action; c) variable reward; d) investment 2/ Why should products be...
nanoscale views
Recent RT superconductivity claim - summary page
In the interests of saving people from lots of googling or scrolling through 170+ comments, here is...
a year ago
In the interests of saving people from lots of googling or scrolling through 170+ comments, here is a bulleted summary of links relevant to the recent claim of room temperature superconductivity in a nitrogen-doped lutetium hydride compound under pressure.
Dias's contributed...
Sean Carroll
Johns Hopkins
As far as I remember, the first time I stepped onto a university campus was in junior high school,...
over a year ago
As far as I remember, the first time I stepped onto a university campus was in junior high school, when I visited Johns Hopkins for an awards ceremony for the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth. (I grew up in an environment that didn’t involve spending a lot of time on...
Blog - Practical...
Do Droughts Make Floods Worse?
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Do you remember the summer of...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Do you remember the summer of 2022 when a record drought had gripped not only a large part of the United States, but most of Europe too? Reservoirs were empty, wildfires spread, crop yields dropped, and rivers...
Blog - Practical...
What's the Difference Between Paint and Coatings?
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
There’s a popular myth that...
over a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
There’s a popular myth that I’ve heard about several bridges (including the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and the Forth Bridge in eastern Scotland) that they paint the structure continuously from end to...
nanoscale views
Thoughts on undergrad solid-state content
Figuring out what to include in an undergraduate introduction to solid-state physics course is...
8 months ago
Figuring out what to include in an undergraduate introduction to solid-state physics course is always a challenge. Books like the present incarnation of Kittel are overstuffed with more content than can readily fit in a one-semester course, and because that book has grown...
Uncharted...
Desalination: a Future of Infinite Water
Desalination is finally cheap, and it’s only getting cheaper. Will this usher a world of plentiful...
a month ago
Desalination is finally cheap, and it’s only getting cheaper. Will this usher a world of plentiful water everywhere? Will we be able to build in the Sahara?
Wanderingspace
We don’t post enough Mars Scenic Views
I mean… we don’t post enough in general.
over a year ago
I mean… we don’t post enough in general.
Asterisk
The Transistor Cliff
Moore’s law may be coming to an end. What happens to AI progress if it does?
a year ago
Moore’s law may be coming to an end. What happens to AI progress if it does?
Asterisk
The EA-Progress Studies War is Here, and It’s a Constructive Dialogue!
We’re hoping Marc Andreessen doesn’t read this and polarize everyone again.
6 months ago
We’re hoping Marc Andreessen doesn’t read this and polarize everyone again.
Math Is Still...
How Math Has Changed the Shape of Gerrymandering
New tools make it possible to detect hidden manipulation of maps.
The post How Math Has...
a year ago
New tools make it possible to detect hidden manipulation of maps.
The post How Math Has Changed the Shape of Gerrymandering first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
The Fight over Education
There is an ongoing culture war, and not just in the US, over the content of childhood education,...
a year ago
There is an ongoing culture war, and not just in the US, over the content of childhood education, both public and private. This seems to be flaring up recently, but is never truly gone. Republicans in the US have recently escalated this war by banning over 500 books in several...
IEEE Spectrum
The Lisa Was Apple’s Best Failure
Happy 40th Birthday to Lisa! The Apple Lisa computer, that is. In celebration of this milestone, the...
a year ago
Happy 40th Birthday to Lisa! The Apple Lisa computer, that is. In celebration of this milestone, the Computer History Museum has received permission from Apple to release the source code to the Lisa, including its system and applications software.
You can access the Lisa source...
Asterisk
Behind Closed Doors
In 2020, we worried that COVID lockdowns might lead to an increase in domestic violence. Instead,...
a year ago
In 2020, we worried that COVID lockdowns might lead to an increase in domestic violence. Instead, the opposite occurred. Why did this happen — and why was it so hard to figure out?
Math Is Still...
How Base 3 Computing Beats Binary
Long explored but infrequently embraced, base 3 computing may yet find a home in cybersecurity. ...
4 months ago
Long explored but infrequently embraced, base 3 computing may yet find a home in cybersecurity.
The post How Base 3 Computing Beats Binary first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
‘Species Repulsion’ Enables High Biodiversity in Tropical Trees
Because tree seedlings don’t grow as well when close to their parents, more tree species can be...
a year ago
Because tree seedlings don’t grow as well when close to their parents, more tree species can be packed into tropical forests.
The post ‘Species Repulsion’ Enables High Biodiversity in Tropical Trees first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Roots of...
The origins of the steam engine
This is a guest post written by Anton Howes and animated by Matt Brown of Extraordinary Facility....
a year ago
This is a guest post written by Anton Howes and animated by Matt Brown of Extraordinary Facility. This project was sponsored by The Roots of Progress, with funding generously provided by The Institute.
Steam power did not begin with the steam engine. Long before...
brr
Last Flight Out
Good-byes, and the beginning of winter isolation.
a year ago
Good-byes, and the beginning of winter isolation.
The Works in...
Notes on Progress: A tale of two particles
Not all radioactivity is risky or harmful
over a year ago
Not all radioactivity is risky or harmful
Probably...
Think Python third edition!
I am happy to announce the third edition of Think Python, which will be published by O’Reilly Media...
10 months ago
I am happy to announce the third edition of Think Python, which will be published by O’Reilly Media later this year. You can read the online version of the book here. I’ve posted the Preface and the first four chapters — more on the way soon! You can read the Early Release and...
Beautiful Public...
1,000 Photos of Dolphin Fins
Scars, scratches and wounds abound in these photos as encounters with unknown creatures and boat...
a year ago
Scars, scratches and wounds abound in these photos as encounters with unknown creatures and boat propellers leave their marks, imprinting a story of close escapes and cheating death.
Math Is Still...
Plants Find Light Using Gaps Between Their Cells
A mutant seedling revealed how plant tissues scatter incoming light, allowing plants to sense its...
10 months ago
A mutant seedling revealed how plant tissues scatter incoming light, allowing plants to sense its direction and move toward it.
The post Plants Find Light Using Gaps Between Their Cells first appeared on Quanta Magazine
nanoscale views
Items of interest
The time since the APS meeting has been very busy, hence the lack of posting. A few items of...
9 months ago
The time since the APS meeting has been very busy, hence the lack of posting. A few items of interest:
The present issue of Nature Physics has several articles about physics education that I really want to read.
This past week we hosted N. Peter Armitage for a really fun...
Quantum Frontiers
Quantum computing vs. Grubhub
pon receiving my speaking assignments for the Tucson Festival of Books, I mentally raised my...
a year ago
pon receiving my speaking assignments for the Tucson Festival of Books, I mentally raised my eyebrows. I’d be participating in a panel discussion with Mike Evans, the founder of Grubhub? But I hadn’t created an app that’s a household name. I … Continue reading →
NeuroLogica Blog
New Platform for Timed Drug Release
This is one of those technologies that most people probably never think about, but could potentially...
a year ago
This is one of those technologies that most people probably never think about, but could potentially have a significant impact on our lives – timed drug release. The concept is nothing new, but there is a lot of room for improvement on current technologies. We already have...
Quantum Frontiers
Can Thermodynamics Resolve the Measurement Problem?
At the recent Quantum Thermodynamics conference in Vienna (coming next year to the University of...
a year ago
At the recent Quantum Thermodynamics conference in Vienna (coming next year to the University of Maryland!), during an expert panel Q&A session, one member of the audience asked “can quantum thermodynamics address foundational problems in quantum theory?” That stuck with …...
NeuroLogica Blog
Unifying Cognitive Biases
Are you familiar with the “lumper vs splitter” debate? This refers to any situation in which there...
a year ago
Are you familiar with the “lumper vs splitter” debate? This refers to any situation in which there is some controversy over exactly how to categorize complex phenomena, specifically whether or not to favor the fewest categories based on similarities, or the greatest number of...
Articles - Chris...
My $500M Mars Rover Mistake: A Failure Story
Some mistakes feel worse than death.
a year ago
Some mistakes feel worse than death.
NeuroLogica Blog
Nuclear Microreactors
The first nuclear powered vessel was completed in 1959. Since then there have been nuclear powered...
a year ago
The first nuclear powered vessel was completed in 1959. Since then there have been nuclear powered vessels in the oceans, including many nuclear submarines. The obvious advantage is that is such vessels can stay at see for long periods of time without refueling. These ships use...
IEEE Spectrum
What Is an Electronic Sackbut?
If you, like me, think of musical synthesizers as an artifact of 1970s rock and disco, then you,...
10 months ago
If you, like me, think of musical synthesizers as an artifact of 1970s rock and disco, then you, like me, will be surprised to learn that the first electronic synthesizer predates those genres by several decades
In 1945, Hugh Le Caine, a physicist at Canada’s National Research...
NeuroLogica Blog
Eating Methane
Methane is the forgotten greenhouse gas (sort of). Often, when discussing how best to reduce...
a year ago
Methane is the forgotten greenhouse gas (sort of). Often, when discussing how best to reduce anthropogenic climate change, we talk about decarbonizing our electrical and transport sectors, and carbon removal. But methane is also a greenhouse gas, contributing to global warming,...
Blog - Practical...
Which Power Plant Does My Electricity Come From?
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In June of 2000, the power...
a month ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
In June of 2000, the power shut off across much of the San Francisco Bay area. There simply wasn’t enough electricity to meet demands, so more than a million customers were disconnected in California's largest...
nanoscale views
Condensed matter’s rough start
I’m teaching undergrad solid-state for the first time, and it has served as a reminder of how...
a year ago
I’m teaching undergrad solid-state for the first time, and it has served as a reminder of how condensed matter physics got off the ground. I suspect that one reason CM historically had not received a lot of respect in the early years (e.g. Pauli declaring that solid-state...
Drew Ex Machina
Failure to Launch: The First Moon Race 1958-60
While it has been a few months since I have published a new post on the Drew Ex Machina website,...
a year ago
While it has been a few months since I have published a new post on the Drew Ex Machina website, that doesn’t mean that I haven’t […]
NeuroLogica Blog
A Climate Debate Regarding Health Effects – Part IV
Part 4 This will be the final installment of this mini-debate about climate change and health...
a year ago
Part 4 This will be the final installment of this mini-debate about climate change and health effects, following a typical format of each person getting to make a statement and a response. Scott makes a lot of complaints about tone, format and fairness while simultaneously trying...
Tikalon Blog by Dev...
Ice Formation
In today's bigger is better world, you don't order a large coffee, you order a 20 fluid ounce Venti...
4 months ago
In today's bigger is better world, you don't order a large coffee, you order a 20 fluid ounce Venti coffee. From 1987 through 2004, McDonald's restaurants had a supersize option for larger than large portions of its French fries and soft drinks. The prefix, super, has been used...
The Roots of...
Quote quiz: “drifting into dependence”
Quote quiz: who said this? (No fair looking it up). I have modified the original quotation slightly,...
a year ago
Quote quiz: who said this? (No fair looking it up). I have modified the original quotation slightly, by making a handful of word substitutions to bring it up to date:
It might be argued that the human race would never be foolish enough to hand over all power to AI. But we are...
NeuroLogica Blog
How Much Carbon do Living Things Store?
Since we are in a “all hands on deck” situation when it comes to climate change, we need to take a...
a year ago
Since we are in a “all hands on deck” situation when it comes to climate change, we need to take a look at all potential strategies for delaying and blunting global warming. The game at this point is all about peak warming – how much will the Earth warm before temperatures peak...
The Works in...
Anemia and Malaria
In malaria endemic regions, being anemic could be keeping children safe
2 months ago
In malaria endemic regions, being anemic could be keeping children safe
Out-of-Pocket Blog
How Value-Based Care Contracting Works with Accorded | Out-Of-Pocket
With calculators and contracts you can see yourself
a year ago
With calculators and contracts you can see yourself
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Can patients be good healthcare shoppers? | Out-Of-Pocket
Should their be limits to patient agency?
4 months ago
Should their be limits to patient agency?
Blog - Practical...
What’s the Deal with Base Plates?
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
A lot of engineering focuses...
2 weeks ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
A lot of engineering focuses on structural members. How wide is this beam? How tall is this column? But some of the most important engineering decisions are in how to connect those members together. Take a...
Beautiful Public...
Trademark Design Codes
The United States Patent and Trademark Office has a system of 1,400 descriptive "design codes"...
8 months ago
The United States Patent and Trademark Office has a system of 1,400 descriptive "design codes" allowing you to search for trademarks with “Rickshaws”, “Centaurs” or “Mechanical women”.
Quantum Frontiers
Sculpting quantum steampunk
In 2020, many of us logged experiences that we’d never anticipated. I wrote a nonfiction book and...
a month ago
In 2020, many of us logged experiences that we’d never anticipated. I wrote a nonfiction book and got married outside the Harvard Faculty Club (because nobody was around to shoo us away). Equally unexpectedly, I received an invitation to collaborate … Continue reading →
Explorations of an...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 2: Chiclayo area (February 3, 2024)
February 2, 2024
Traveling to Chiclayo in northern Peru isn't an easy endeavour. Luckily, we live...
9 months ago
February 2, 2024
Traveling to Chiclayo in northern Peru isn't an easy endeavour. Luckily, we live less than an hour from a major international airport - Pearson Airport in Toronto - but there are few direct flights between Toronto and Lima (and none that were affordable for us...
nanoscale views
Anyons, simulation, and "real" systems
Quanta magazine this week published an article about two very recent papers, in which different...
a year ago
Quanta magazine this week published an article about two very recent papers, in which different groups performed quantum simulations of anyons, objects that do not follow Bose-Einstein or Fermi-Dirac statistics when they are exchanged. For so-called Abelian anyons (which I wrote...
nanoscale views
2024 version: Advice on choosing a graduate school
It's been four years since I posted the previous version of this, so it feels like the time is right...
10 months ago
It's been four years since I posted the previous version of this, so it feels like the time is right for an update.
This is written on the assumption that you have already decided, after careful consideration, that you want to get an advanced degree (in physics, though much of...
nanoscale views
The wormhole kerfuffle, ER=EPR, and all that
I was busy trying to finish off a grant proposal and paper revisions this week and didn't have the...
over a year ago
I was busy trying to finish off a grant proposal and paper revisions this week and didn't have the time to react in realtime to the PR onslaught surrounding the recent Nature paper by a team from Harvard, MIT, Fermilab, and Google. There are many places to get caught up on this,...
NeuroLogica Blog
The Exoplanet Radius Gap
As of this writing, there are 5,573 confirmed exoplanets in 4,146 planetary systems. That is enough...
10 months ago
As of this writing, there are 5,573 confirmed exoplanets in 4,146 planetary systems. That is enough exoplanets, planets around stars other than our own sun, that we can do some statistics to describe what’s out there. One curious pattern that has emerged is a relative gap in the...
Math Is Still...
A Tower of Conjectures That Rests Upon a Needle
On its surface, the Kakeya conjecture is a simple statement about rotating needles. But it underlies...
a year ago
On its surface, the Kakeya conjecture is a simple statement about rotating needles. But it underlies a wealth of mathematics.
The post A Tower of Conjectures That Rests Upon a Needle first appeared on Quanta Magazine
IEEE Spectrum
The Man Who Coined The Word "Robot" Defends Himself
You’re familiar with Karel Čapek, right? If not, you should be—he’s the guy who (along with his...
11 months ago
You’re familiar with Karel Čapek, right? If not, you should be—he’s the guy who (along with his brother Josef) invented the word “robot.” Čapek introduced robots to the world in 1921, when his play “R.U.R.” (subtitled “Rossum’s Universal Robots”) was first performed in Prague. It...
Math Is Still...
How Math Achieved Transcendence
Transcendental numbers include famous examples like e and π, but it took mathematicians centuries to...
a year ago
Transcendental numbers include famous examples like e and π, but it took mathematicians centuries to understand them.
The post How Math Achieved Transcendence first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Asterisk
Feeding the World Without Sunlight
In 1815, the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history led to harvest failures across the globe....
a year ago
In 1815, the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history led to harvest failures across the globe. Today, a nuclear winter could bring the global food system crashing down. Is it possible to feed the world in the aftermath of a catastrophe?
IEEE Spectrum
Meet Mr. Internet: Vint Cerf
It was June 1973. For the past three months, Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn had been working together on a...
a year ago
It was June 1973. For the past three months, Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn had been working together on a problem Kahn had been pondering for some time: how to connect ground-based military computers seamlessly to communications satellites and mobile radios.
The two had been...
Math Is Still...
A New Experiment Casts Doubt on the Leading Theory of the Nucleus
By measuring inflated helium nuclei, physicists have challenged our best understanding of the force...
a year ago
By measuring inflated helium nuclei, physicists have challenged our best understanding of the force that binds protons and neutrons.
The post A New Experiment Casts Doubt on the Leading Theory of the Nucleus first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Damn Interesting
The Anticipated Future of the Moon
When the Earth was young, shortly after the moon formed, our planet was spinning so fast that a day...
over a year ago
When the Earth was young, shortly after the moon formed, our planet was spinning so fast that a day was approximately five hours long. During the intervening billions of years, the dragging effect of the moon’s gravity slowed the Earth’s spin to the 24-hour day we now observe....
Math Is Still...
The Unraveling of Space-Time
This special issue of Quanta Magazine explores the ultimate scientific quest: the search for the...
2 months ago
This special issue of Quanta Magazine explores the ultimate scientific quest: the search for the fundamental nature of reality.
The post The Unraveling of Space-Time first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Blog - Practical...
Where Does Grounded Electricity Actually Go?
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Imagine this scenario: You...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Imagine this scenario: You have a diesel-powered generator on a stand that is electrically isolated from the ground. Run a wire from the energized slot of an outlet to an electrode driven into the ground. Don’t...
nanoscale views
Science and how it will be practiced in the future
I just registered for an event that celebrates the 35th anniversary of a particular science and...
a year ago
I just registered for an event that celebrates the 35th anniversary of a particular science and engineering program, and one question they posed was, to paraphrase, "Science has changed a lot in the last 35 years. Please make three predictions about science in the next 35...
Wanderingspace
Venus from Earth (with Stacking)
Image taken by @TheVastReaches. According to the photographer, “It takes just a few minutes to...
over a year ago
Image taken by @TheVastReaches. According to the photographer, “It takes just a few minutes to collect all the frames. This started as 6 video files, 45,000 frames total. Then they are stacked and combined.”
NeuroLogica Blog
Panspermia Again
Recently I was asked what I thought about this video, which suggests it is possible that life formed...
a year ago
Recently I was asked what I thought about this video, which suggests it is possible that life formed in the early universe, shortly after the Big Bang. Although no mentioned specifically in the video, the ideas presents are essentially panspermia – the idea that life formed in...
The Works in...
The value of family
Traditional values don't deliver babies
a year ago
Traditional values don't deliver babies
IEEE Spectrum
The Unlikely Inventor of the Automatic Rice Cooker
How the automatic rice cooker was invented
It isn’t often that housewives get credit in the annals...
a month ago
How the automatic rice cooker was invented
It isn’t often that housewives get credit in the annals of invention, but in the story of the automatic rice cooker, a woman takes center stage. That happened only after the first attempts at electrifying rice cooking, starting in the...
nanoscale views
What do we want in a conference venue?
The APS March Meeting was in Las Vegas this year, and I have yet to talk to a single attendee who...
a year ago
The APS March Meeting was in Las Vegas this year, and I have yet to talk to a single attendee who liked that decision in hindsight. In brief, the conference venue seemed about 10% too small (severe crowding issues in hallways between sessions); while the APS deal on hotels was...
Math Is Still...
Can Space-Time Be Saved?
Curious connections between physics and math suggest to Latham Boyle that space-time may survive the...
2 months ago
Curious connections between physics and math suggest to Latham Boyle that space-time may survive the jump to the next theory of reality.
The post Can Space-Time Be Saved? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Inverted Passion
What bootstraps intelligence?
A musing on how intelligence comes to be. The bedrock of intelligence is abstractions – the thing we...
3 months ago
A musing on how intelligence comes to be. The bedrock of intelligence is abstractions – the thing we do when we throw away a lot of information and just emphasise on a subset of it (e.g. calling that thing an apple instead of describing all its atoms and their x, y, z positions)....
Melting Asphalt
Going Critical
Background: This is an interactive blog post. I wanted to host it here, but don't know how to make...
over a year ago
Background: This is an interactive blog post. I wanted to host it here, but don't know how to make it play nice with WordPress. So I decided to host it on another part of the site instead. Click here for…
Read more ›
NeuroLogica Blog
The Experience Machine Thought Experiment
In 1974 Robert Nozick published the book, Anarchy, State, and Utopia, in which he posed the...
9 months ago
In 1974 Robert Nozick published the book, Anarchy, State, and Utopia, in which he posed the following thought experiment: If you could be plugged into an “experience machine” (what we would likely call today a virtual reality or “Matrix”) that could perfectly replicate real-life...
NeuroLogica Blog
Some Climate Change Trends and Thoughts
Climate change is a challenging issue on multiple levels – it’s challenging for scientists to...
2 weeks ago
Climate change is a challenging issue on multiple levels – it’s challenging for scientists to understand all of the complexities of a changing climate, it’s difficult to know how to optimally communicate to the public about climate change, and of course we face an enormous...
NeuroLogica Blog
Fossil Fuels – Reduce Demand or Supply?
This is a bit of a false choice – we can do both, or neither – but it is an important question and a...
a year ago
This is a bit of a false choice – we can do both, or neither – but it is an important question and a somewhat of a dilemma. Is the optimal path to reductions and eventual elimination of fossil fuel burning through reduced demand or supply? There are some interesting tradeoffs...
Explorations of an...
Day Two At Río Bigal - Brilliant Birding and Magnificent Mothing
The Pink-throated Brilliant.
There are, of course, many other weird and wonderful species that call...
a year ago
The Pink-throated Brilliant.
There are, of course, many other weird and wonderful species that call Río Bigal home, but I was first drawn to the idea of visiting this reserve while reading about the enigmatic Pink-throated Brilliant. This rare hummingbird lives only in forest in...
Cremieux Recueil
High-Frequency Trading Is Good
Sichuan Mala has written a guest post on one of the most unfairly maligned parts of the financial...
3 months ago
Sichuan Mala has written a guest post on one of the most unfairly maligned parts of the financial industry
Math Is Still...
Clashing Cosmic Numbers Challenge Our Best Theory of the Universe
As measurements of distant stars and galaxies become more precise, cosmologists are struggling to...
11 months ago
As measurements of distant stars and galaxies become more precise, cosmologists are struggling to make sense of sparring values.
The post Clashing Cosmic Numbers Challenge Our Best Theory of the Universe first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
How the Human Brain Contends With the Strangeness of Zero
Zero, which was invented late in history, is special among numbers. New studies are uncovering how...
2 months ago
Zero, which was invented late in history, is special among numbers. New studies are uncovering how the brain creates something out of nothing.
The post How the Human Brain Contends With the Strangeness of Zero first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
The Mathematician Who Sculpted the Shape of Space
Eugenio Calabi, who died on September 25, conceived of novel geometric objects that later became...
a year ago
Eugenio Calabi, who died on September 25, conceived of novel geometric objects that later became fundamental to string theory.
The post The Mathematician Who Sculpted the Shape of Space first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Science News in 2023
This is not exactly a “best of” because I don’t know how that applies to science news, but here are...
a year ago
This is not exactly a “best of” because I don’t know how that applies to science news, but here are what I consider to be the most impactful science news stories of 2023 (or at least the ones that caught by biased attention). This was a big year for medical breakthroughs. We are...
ToughSF
How to Live on Other Planets: Uranus
The weirdest of the planets.
A blue giant, resting on its side.
Could we find a home in...
over a year ago
The weirdest of the planets.
A blue giant, resting on its side.
Could we find a home in the
Uranian system?
Description
Uranus is the fourth-largest
planet and the first ‘ice giant’. It orbits between 18.3 and 20.1 AU from the
Sun, making it four times more distant than...
NeuroLogica Blog
Cultural Blindness
One of the core tenets of scientific skepticism is what I call neuropsychological humility – the...
a year ago
One of the core tenets of scientific skepticism is what I call neuropsychological humility – the recognition that while the human brain is a powerful information processing machine, it also has many frailties. One of those frailties is perception – we do not perceive the world in...
NeuroLogica Blog
Harvesting Energy from Water Vapor
I did not plan to write yet another post about energy, but this popped up and I had to write about...
a year ago
I did not plan to write yet another post about energy, but this popped up and I had to write about it. UMASS researchers have produced a device that generates electricity by harvesting charge from water vapor. They write: The common feature of these materials is that they are...
nanoscale views
Getting light out of plasmonic tunnel junctions - the sequel
A couple of years ago I wrote about our work on "above threshold" light emission in planar metal...
over a year ago
A couple of years ago I wrote about our work on "above threshold" light emission in planar metal tunnel junctions. In that work, we showed that in a planar tunnel junction, you can apply a bias voltage \(V\) and get lots of photons out at energies quite a bit greater than...
nanoscale views
CHIPS and Science - the reality vs the aspiration
I already wrote about this issue here back in August, but I wanted to highlight a policy statement...
2 months ago
I already wrote about this issue here back in August, but I wanted to highlight a policy statement that I wrote with colleagues as part of Rice's Baker Institute's Election 2024: Policy Playbook, which "delivers nonpartisan, expert insights into key issues at stake on the 2024...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
More weird rules in healthcare | Out-Of-Pocket
3 liters of blood, sequential billing, COBRA, and more
6 months ago
3 liters of blood, sequential billing, COBRA, and more
Blog - Practical...
How Engineers Straightened the Leaning Tower of Pisa
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Long ago, maybe upwards of 1-2...
a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Long ago, maybe upwards of 1-2 million years ago, a river in the central part of what’s now Italy, emptied into what’s now the Ligurian Sea. It still does, by the way, but it did back then too. As the sea rose...
wadertales
A Whimbrel’s year
There’s a lot to fit into twelve months if you’re a Whimbrel. In the last paper from his PhD, Camilo...
over a year ago
There’s a lot to fit into twelve months if you’re a Whimbrel. In the last paper from his PhD, Camilo Carneiro assesses whether Icelandic Whimbrel can always manage to complete the annual cycle of migrate-breed-fatten-migrate-moult-fatten in just 365 days. What happens if a pair...
nanoscale views
What is a metal-insulator transition?
The recent excitement about the alleged high temperature superconductor "LK99" has introduced some...
a year ago
The recent excitement about the alleged high temperature superconductor "LK99" has introduced some in the public to the idea of a metal-insulator or insulator-metal transition (MIT/IMT). For example, one strong candidate explanation for the sharp drop in resistance as a function...
Interaction Magic -...
3 tips for co-designing with kids
Designing future sports products with a group of 11 year olds.
a year ago
Designing future sports products with a group of 11 year olds.
Bartosz Ciechanowski
Airfoil
The dream of soaring in the sky like a bird has captivated the human mind for ages. Although many...
9 months ago
The dream of soaring in the sky like a bird has captivated the human mind for ages. Although many failed, some eventually succeeded in achieving that goal. These days we take air transportation for granted, but the physics of flight can still be puzzling.
In this article we’ll...
Blog - Practical...
What Is A Black Start Of The Power Grid?
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
November 1965 saw one of the...
over a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
November 1965 saw one of the most widespread power outages in North American history. On the freezing cold evening of the 9th, the grid was operating at maximum capacity as people tried to stay warm when a...
Math Is Still...
New Proof Finds the ‘Ultimate Instability’ in a Solar System Model
For the first time, mathematicians have proved that planetary orbits in a solar system will always...
a year ago
For the first time, mathematicians have proved that planetary orbits in a solar system will always be unstable.
The post New Proof Finds the ‘Ultimate Instability’ in a Solar System Model first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
But actually good 2024 predictions | Out-Of-Pocket
I know, enough predictions. But these are good!
a year ago
I know, enough predictions. But these are good!
nanoscale views
APS March Meeting 2024, Day 1
There is no question that the meeting venue in Minneapolis is superior in multiple ways to last...
9 months ago
There is no question that the meeting venue in Minneapolis is superior in multiple ways to last year's meeting in Las Vegas. The convention center doesn't feel scarily confining, and it also doesn't smell like a combination of cigarettes and desperation.
Here are a few...
Wanderingspace
Neptune from the James Webb Space Telescope
Webb’s latest image is the clearest look at Neptune's rings in 30+ years, and our first time seeing...
over a year ago
Webb’s latest image is the clearest look at Neptune's rings in 30+ years, and our first time seeing them in infrared light. Take in Webb's ghostly, ethereal views of the planet and its dust bands, rings and moons: https://go.nasa.gov/3RXxoGq #IAC2022
NeuroLogica Blog
Converting CO2 to Carbon Nanofibers
One of the dreams of a green economy where the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is stable, and not...
11 months ago
One of the dreams of a green economy where the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is stable, and not slowly increasing, is the ability to draw CO2 from the atmosphere and convert it to a solid form. Often referred to as carbon capture, some form of this is going to be necessary...
Math Is Still...
AI System Beats Chess Puzzles With ‘Artificial Brainstorming’
By bringing together disparate approaches, machines can reach a new level of creative...
a year ago
By bringing together disparate approaches, machines can reach a new level of creative problem-solving.
The post AI System Beats Chess Puzzles With ‘Artificial Brainstorming’ first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
Mollusk Eyes Reveal How Future Evolution Depends on the Past
The visual systems of an obscure group of mollusks provide a rare natural example of path-dependent...
9 months ago
The visual systems of an obscure group of mollusks provide a rare natural example of path-dependent evolution, in which a critical fork in the creatures’ past determined their evolutionary futures.
The post Mollusk Eyes Reveal How Future Evolution Depends on the Past...
The Works in...
Getting people to donate their organs
Too few people donate their organs, dead or alive. How can we make it easier?
8 months ago
Too few people donate their organs, dead or alive. How can we make it easier?
Math Is Still...
Hobbyist Finds Math’s Elusive ‘Einstein’ Tile
The surprisingly simple tile is the first single, connected tile that can fill the entire plane in a...
a year ago
The surprisingly simple tile is the first single, connected tile that can fill the entire plane in a pattern that never repeats — and can’t be made to fill it in a repeating way.
The post Hobbyist Finds Math’s Elusive ‘Einstein’ Tile first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Roots of...
The American Information Revolution in Global Perspective
In “What if they gave an Industrial Revolution and nobody came?” I reviewed The British Industrial...
a year ago
In “What if they gave an Industrial Revolution and nobody came?” I reviewed The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective, by Robert Allen. In brief, Allen’s explanation for the Industrial Revolution is that Britain had high wages and cheap energy, which meant it was...
symmetry magazine
Practice makes perfect (particle detectors)
Prototyping is an indispensable step in the development of particle physics experiments like DUNE...
a year ago
Prototyping is an indispensable step in the development of particle physics experiments like DUNE and projects like PIP-II.
When complete, the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, or DUNE, will be the world’s most comprehensive neutrino experiment—and...
NeuroLogica Blog
Tesla Demonstrated its Optimus Robot
At a recent event Tesla showcased the capabilities of its humanoid autonomous robot, Optimus. The...
2 months ago
At a recent event Tesla showcased the capabilities of its humanoid autonomous robot, Optimus. The demonstration has come under some criticism, however, for not being fully transparent about the nature of the demonstration. We interviewed robotics expert, Christian Hubicki, on the...
Math Is Still...
Underground Cells Make ‘Dark Oxygen’ Without Light
In some deep subterranean aquifers, cells have a chemical trick for making oxygen that could sustain...
a year ago
In some deep subterranean aquifers, cells have a chemical trick for making oxygen that could sustain whole underground ecosystems.
The post Underground Cells Make ‘Dark Oxygen’ Without Light first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Chris Grossack's...
Externalizing Some Simple Topos Statements
Hey all! It’s been a minute. I’ve been super busy with
the UC strike and honestly I haven’t done...
over a year ago
Hey all! It’s been a minute. I’ve been super busy with
the UC strike and honestly I haven’t done math in any
serious capacity for almost the past month. It’s been a
lot of hard work trying to get fair contracts out of the UC,
but I had a lot of travel plans this December to...
NeuroLogica Blog
Some Future Tech Possibilities
It’s difficult to pick winners and losers in the future tech game. In reality you just have to see...
10 months ago
It’s difficult to pick winners and losers in the future tech game. In reality you just have to see what happens when you try out a new technology in the real world with actual people. Many technologies that look good on paper run into logistical problems, difficulty scaling, fall...
The Works in...
How Poor Maintenance Loses Wars: 1973, Israel Maintains
A new section from Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress
a year ago
A new section from Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress
Asterisk
A Chinese Internet Phrasebook
The latest slang on Weibo reveals a world of cynicism, ennui — and concrete pasta.
a month ago
The latest slang on Weibo reveals a world of cynicism, ennui — and concrete pasta.
Blog - Practical...
How Would a Nuclear EMP Affect the Power Grid?
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Late in the morning of April...
over a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Late in the morning of April 28, 1958, the USS Boxer aircraft carrier ship was about 70 miles off the coast of the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The crew of the Boxer was preparing to launch a...
NeuroLogica Blog
Is the AI Singularity Coming?
Like it or not, we are living in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Recent advances in large...
9 months ago
Like it or not, we are living in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Recent advances in large language models, like ChatGPT, have helped put advanced AI in the hands of the average person, who now has a much better sense of how powerful these AI applications can be (and...
Asterisk
Manufacturing Bliss
A growing community centered on the Bay Area is rediscovering the jhanas, a meditation technique...
8 months ago
A growing community centered on the Bay Area is rediscovering the jhanas, a meditation technique that practitioners claim could upend how we think about the brain — and transform our lives in the process.
Drew Ex Machina
Recollections of NASA’s Apollo 11 Mission
Like a lot of kids who grew up during the ‘60s and ‘70s, I had a fascination with spaceflight. This...
5 months ago
Like a lot of kids who grew up during the ‘60s and ‘70s, I had a fascination with spaceflight. This interest started honestly enough back around […]
nanoscale views
Items of interest
A couple of interesting papers that I came across this week:
There is long been an interest in...
4 months ago
A couple of interesting papers that I came across this week:
There is long been an interest in purely electronic cooling techniques (no moving parts!) that would work at cryogenic temperatures. You're familiar with ordinary evaporative cooling - that's what helps cool down...
Asterisk
What We Get Wrong About AI & China
Everyone’s afraid of what China can and will do with AI. On the ground, the picture looks a lot more...
a year ago
Everyone’s afraid of what China can and will do with AI. On the ground, the picture looks a lot more complicated.
The Works in...
Invisible College applications close on Friday
Applications to our new residential seminar close this coming Friday, 31st May
6 months ago
Applications to our new residential seminar close this coming Friday, 31st May
Asterisk
Silicon Valley’s Gold Rush Roots
Silicon Valley, purveyor of disruptive technologies, likes to think of itself as sui generis. But...
8 months ago
Silicon Valley, purveyor of disruptive technologies, likes to think of itself as sui generis. But there’s a clear line from tech’s knowledge economy to the Bay Area’s first economy: gold mining.
Wanderingspace
Dust Storm On Mars
A dust storm in Olympia Planum's north polar dune fields was triggered by a late Martian summer cold...
8 months ago
A dust storm in Olympia Planum's north polar dune fields was triggered by a late Martian summer cold front. As the northern polar cap shrinks fast, it releases cold air that sometimes moves south, like on Earth. These cold fronts strengthen in late summer and early fall due to...
Asterisk
Why We Shut Down
In international development, it’s not enough to try to do good. We need the tools to tell if a...
5 months ago
In international development, it’s not enough to try to do good. We need the tools to tell if a project is really working — and the incentive to end it if it’s not.
Chris Grossack's...
Proving Another "Real Theorem" with Topos Theory
Another day, another post that starts with “So I was on mse…”, lol.
Somebody asked whether...
9 months ago
Another day, another post that starts with “So I was on mse…”, lol.
Somebody asked whether maximizing over a compact set is a continuous thing
to do. That is, given a continuous function $f : K \times X \to \mathbb{R}$ is the
function $x \mapsto \max_{k \in K} f(k,x)$...
Beautiful Public...
Photologging Vans
These sequences are from New York and Connecticut’s state photolog archives, which I obtained...
over a year ago
These sequences are from New York and Connecticut’s state photolog archives, which I obtained through public records requests. Almost every state’s highway departments had highway photolog programs, some dating back as early as 1961. These sequences were captured by specially...
Explorations of an...
A Month In Northern Peru, Part 10: The Owlet Lodge (February 11 and 12, 2024)
February 11, 2024
Laura and I were looking forward to our one-night visit to the Owlet Lodge. Up to...
5 months ago
February 11, 2024
Laura and I were looking forward to our one-night visit to the Owlet Lodge. Up to this point we had only stayed at cheap hotels, while we had also eaten simply, with at least two meals each day consisting of sandwiches/snacks that we prepared. For once, someone...
Math Is Still...
The Cellular Secret to Resisting the Pressure of the Deep Sea
Cell membranes from comb jellies reveal a new kind of adaptation to the deep sea: curvy lipids that...
3 months ago
Cell membranes from comb jellies reveal a new kind of adaptation to the deep sea: curvy lipids that conform to an ideal shape under pressure.
The post The Cellular Secret to Resisting the Pressure of the Deep Sea first appeared on Quanta Magazine
NeuroLogica Blog
Coal vs Natural Gas
In the last 18 years, since 2005, the US has decreased our CO2 emissions due to electricity...
a year ago
In the last 18 years, since 2005, the US has decreased our CO2 emissions due to electricity generation by 32%, 819 million metric tons of CO2 per year. Thirty percent of this decline can be attributed to renewable energy generation. But 65% is attributed to essentially replacing...
NeuroLogica Blog
Bill Gates Backs Nuclear
No one ever said that nuclear power is simple or easy. It’s a tricky and expensive technology. But...
6 months ago
No one ever said that nuclear power is simple or easy. It’s a tricky and expensive technology. But it also has tremendous potential to create large amounts of reliable green low carbon energy, and many believe that we cannot ignore this potential if we are going to tackle climate...
Beautiful Public...
Visualizing Ship Movements with AIS Data
Explore the beautiful, intricate paths of ships over a year—tracked from America's busiest ports to...
3 months ago
Explore the beautiful, intricate paths of ships over a year—tracked from America's busiest ports to the open ocean via AIS marine tracking data.
nanoscale views
The problems and opportunities of data
We live in a world of "big data", and this presents a number of challenges for how we handle this at...
a year ago
We live in a world of "big data", and this presents a number of challenges for how we handle this at research universities. Until relatively recently, the domain of huge volume/huge throughput scientific data was chiefly that of the nuclear/particle physics community and then...
Math Is Still...
Even Synthetic Life Forms With a Tiny Genome Can Evolve
By watching “minimal” cells regain the fitness they lost, researchers are testing whether a genome...
a year ago
By watching “minimal” cells regain the fitness they lost, researchers are testing whether a genome can be too simple to evolve.
The post Even Synthetic Life Forms With a Tiny Genome Can Evolve first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
The Scientist Who Decodes the Songs of Undersea Volcanoes
In the rumbles and groans of underwater volcanoes, Jackie Caplan-Auerbach finds her favorite...
a year ago
In the rumbles and groans of underwater volcanoes, Jackie Caplan-Auerbach finds her favorite harmonies — and clues to the Earth’s interior.
The post The Scientist Who Decodes the Songs of Undersea Volcanoes first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Sean Carroll
The Biggest Ideas in the Universe | 23. Criticality and Complexity
Spherical cows are important because they let us abstract away all the complications of the real...
over a year ago
Spherical cows are important because they let us abstract away all the complications of the real world and think about underlying principles. But what about when the complications are the point? Then we enter the realm of complex systems — which, interestingly, has its own...
NeuroLogica Blog
Havana Syndrome Revisited
Last month I wrote about Havana Syndrome, the claim that a number of American and Canadian diplomats...
7 months ago
Last month I wrote about Havana Syndrome, the claim that a number of American and Canadian diplomats and military personnel were the targets of some sort of directed energy weapon attack causing symptoms of headache, disorientation, nausea, and sometimes associated with an...
Blog - Practical...
How To Install a Pipeline Under a Railroad
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is the Union Pacific...
10 months ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
This is the Union Pacific Railroad’s Austin Subdivision in central Texas. It’s a busy corridor that moves both freight and passengers north and south between Austin and San Antonio… But it’s mostly freight....
Drew Ex Machina
Star Way of Humanity: American Space Art
During the COVID-19 shutdown three years ago, I spent a lot of my time at home digging through my...
a year ago
During the COVID-19 shutdown three years ago, I spent a lot of my time at home digging through my archives discovering all sorts of items I […]
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Healthcare in India | Out-Of-Pocket
From the eyes of someone on the ground
a year ago
From the eyes of someone on the ground
Out-of-Pocket Blog
“Mission-driven” should be more specific | Out-Of-Pocket
everything is a set of tradeoffs, let's be honest about that
8 months ago
everything is a set of tradeoffs, let's be honest about that
Quantum Frontiers
The spirit of relativity
One of the most immersive steampunk novels I’ve read winks at an experiment performed in a...
over a year ago
One of the most immersive steampunk novels I’ve read winks at an experiment performed in a university I visited this month. The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, by Natasha Pulley, features a budding scientist named Grace Carrow. Grace attends Oxford as … Continue reading →
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Patient Messaging Conundrum pt. 2 | Out-Of-Pocket
Some thoughts from an academic, a behavioral scientist, a patient, and more
a year ago
Some thoughts from an academic, a behavioral scientist, a patient, and more
Math Is Still...
Echoes of Electromagnetism Found in Number Theory
A new magnum opus posits the existence of a hidden mathematical link akin to the connection between...
a year ago
A new magnum opus posits the existence of a hidden mathematical link akin to the connection between electricity and magnetism.
The post Echoes of Electromagnetism Found in Number Theory first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Fitbits, Bundled Payments, and Rollercoasters | Out-Of-Pocket
some papers I think are cool
a year ago
some papers I think are cool
NeuroLogica Blog
Solution Aversion Fallacy
I like to think deeply about informal logical fallacies. I write about them a lot, and even have an...
a year ago
I like to think deeply about informal logical fallacies. I write about them a lot, and even have an occasional segment of the SGU dedicated to them. They are a great way to crystalize our thinking about the many ways in which logic can go wrong. Formal logic deals with arguments...
Wanderingspace
Mars Express is Still Making Great Images 20 Years Later
Mars Express was launched by the European Space Agency in 2003, and is ESA’s first Mars mission. In...
3 months ago
Mars Express was launched by the European Space Agency in 2003, and is ESA’s first Mars mission. In one shot, you can see Mars as a half-lit disk, with Phobos, its tiny moon, hovering above. Right below Phobos is Olympus Mons, the solar system's largest volcano, towering 22 km...
Interaction Magic -...
Plastic archeology
The history, science and engineering of Lego bricks, on the cusp between trash and treasure.
a year ago
The history, science and engineering of Lego bricks, on the cusp between trash and treasure.
symmetry magazine
Seeing the full picture with line-intensity mapping
Astronomers are championing a relatively new technique as a method to understand the structure of...
a year ago
Astronomers are championing a relatively new technique as a method to understand the structure of the early universe in three dimensions.
IEEE Spectrum
A Brief History of the World’s First Planetarium
In 1912, Oskar von Miller, an electrical engineer and founder of the Deutsches Museum, had an idea:...
7 months ago
In 1912, Oskar von Miller, an electrical engineer and founder of the Deutsches Museum, had an idea: Could you project an artificial starry sky onto a dome, as a way of demonstrating astronomical principles to the public?
It was such a novel concept that when von Miller approached...
The Roots of...
2023 in review
2023 was another big year for me and The Roots of Progress.
It was a year when ROP as an...
11 months ago
2023 was another big year for me and The Roots of Progress.
It was a year when ROP as an organization really started to take off. Even though the org itself was formed in 2021, at first it was just a vehicle for my own intellectual work, plus a few side projects. Last year we...
Tikalon Blog by Dev...
Adornment
"Form follows function" is a maxim that an object's shape and appearance should be defined only by...
3 months ago
"Form follows function" is a maxim that an object's shape and appearance should be defined only by its purpose or function. A quick perusal of any antique shop will show that this maxim is generally ignored. Humans (Homo sapiens) have been called "naked apes," but we and our...
ToughSF
Permanent and Perfect Stealth in Space
Despite the commonly accepted truth in Hard Science Fiction, spacecraft are able to evade detection...
over a year ago
Despite the commonly accepted truth in Hard Science Fiction, spacecraft are able to evade detection in space in many circumstances. The Hydrogen Steamer was a design that used liquid hydrogen evaporative cooling to keep a non-reflective surface practically invisible.
However,...
Math Is Still...
What Is the Nature of Time?
Time is all around us: in the language we use, in the memories we revisit and in our predictions of...
9 months ago
Time is all around us: in the language we use, in the memories we revisit and in our predictions of the future. But what exactly is it? The physicist and Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek joins Steve Strogatz to discuss the fundamental hallmarks of time.
The post What Is...
Andrew Fraknoi –...
Drone Madness: Here is the Antidote
For those of us who, through the years, have been through wave after wave of uncritical and...
6 days ago
For those of us who, through the years, have been through wave after wave of uncritical and sensational UFO stories in the media, the current obsession with (and jumping to unwarranted conclusions about) mysterious drones seems all too familiar. As before, untrained observers,...
Math Is Still...
Inside Scientists’ Life-Saving Prediction of the Iceland Eruption
The Reykjanes Peninsula has entered a new volcanic era. Innovative efforts to map and monitor the...
10 months ago
The Reykjanes Peninsula has entered a new volcanic era. Innovative efforts to map and monitor the subterranean magma are saving lives.
The post Inside Scientists’ Life-Saving Prediction of the Iceland Eruption first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Breaking Down Electronic Data Interchange, X12, and Stedi | Out-Of-Pocket
7 months ago
NeuroLogica Blog
Should You Get a Heat Pump?
Starting around 1550 and lasting through the 1600s, England had an energy crisis. They were running...
a year ago
Starting around 1550 and lasting through the 1600s, England had an energy crisis. They were running out of wood, which was the main source of fuel for residential and commercial heating. England also needed a lot of wood for their massive navy – it took about 2,000 trees to build...
NeuroLogica Blog
Everything Will Evaporate
What will be the ultimate fate of our universe? There are a number of theories and possibilities,...
a year ago
What will be the ultimate fate of our universe? There are a number of theories and possibilities, but at present the most likely scenario seems to be that the universe will continue to expand, most mass will eventually find its way into a black hole, and those black holes will...
nanoscale views
Some interesting links - useful lecture notes, videos
Proposal writing, paper writing, and course prep are eating a lot of my bandwidth right now, but I...
a year ago
Proposal writing, paper writing, and course prep are eating a lot of my bandwidth right now, but I wanted to share a few things:
David Tong at Cambridge is a gifted educator and communicator who has written lecture notes that span a wide swath of the physics curriculum, from...
NeuroLogica Blog
Diamond Batteries Again
Why does news reporting of science and technology have to be so terrible at baseline? I know the...
a week ago
Why does news reporting of science and technology have to be so terrible at baseline? I know the answers to this question – lack of expertise, lack of a business model to support dedicated science news infrastructure, the desire for click-bait and sensationalism – but it is still...
Uncharted...
Wind and Solar, a Perfect Match
Also, why solar will beat wind, why they are so complementary, the nuclear renaissance, the poor...
a month ago
Also, why solar will beat wind, why they are so complementary, the nuclear renaissance, the poor state of German energy, and more.
IEEE Spectrum
How Tech Automated the January 6 Investigations
Josh Coker’s Facebook page doesn’t show any MAGA memes or Trump quotes. He wasn’t live-streaming on...
11 months ago
Josh Coker’s Facebook page doesn’t show any MAGA memes or Trump quotes. He wasn’t live-streaming on 6 January 2021, and no one has ever stepped forward to identify him as one of the mob that stormed the US Capitol that day.
Oregon, Ohio, with five counts connected to the failed...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
First Dollar and the HSA wedge | Out-Of-Pocket
Triple. Tax. Advantage.
a year ago
NeuroLogica Blog
The Social Media Dilemma
Australia is planning a total ban on social media for children under 16 years old. Prime Minister...
a month ago
Australia is planning a total ban on social media for children under 16 years old. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese argues that it is the only way to protect vulnerable children from the demonstrable harm that social media can do. This has sparked another round of debates about...
Math Is Still...
Ninth Dedekind Number Found by Two Independent Groups
The numbers count a variety of seemingly unrelated mathematical structures.
The post...
a year ago
The numbers count a variety of seemingly unrelated mathematical structures.
The post Ninth Dedekind Number Found by Two Independent Groups first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Explorations of an...
Tour Extension to Halmahera In The North Moluccas
Del and Marcie joined me for a four-day extension to the nearby island of Halmahera, located in the...
a year ago
Del and Marcie joined me for a four-day extension to the nearby island of Halmahera, located in the North Moluccas. We were now on the east side of the deep-water trench informally known as Weber’s Line and the avifauna was even more in line with New Guinea and Australia....
NeuroLogica Blog
911 Conspiracy Theories Persist
On September 11, 2001, as part of a planned terrorist attack, commercial planes were hijacked and...
a month ago
On September 11, 2001, as part of a planned terrorist attack, commercial planes were hijacked and flown into each of the two towers at the World Trade Center in New York. A third plane was flown into the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed after the passengers fought back. This, of...
Asterisk
PEPFAR and the Costs of Cost-Benefit Analysis
In the early aughts, economists said it was a bad use of money to send antiretroviral drugs to treat...
10 months ago
In the early aughts, economists said it was a bad use of money to send antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV in low-income countries. Twenty years later, we can ask why they got it wrong.
The Works in...
How pour-over coffee got good
While popular with enthusiasts, pour-over coffee frustrated shops because it takes so long to make,...
a week ago
While popular with enthusiasts, pour-over coffee frustrated shops because it takes so long to make, but that's changing.
Asterisk
Beyond Staple Grains
The Green Revolution saved a billion lives, but it left a legacy of homogenous diets and distorted...
a year ago
The Green Revolution saved a billion lives, but it left a legacy of homogenous diets and distorted agricultural markets. What impact has this had on global health — and how can we move forward?
wadertales
Why count shorebirds? A tale from Portugal
The Sado Estuary is one of Portugal’s most important wetlands – a key link in the chain of sites...
a year ago
The Sado Estuary is one of Portugal’s most important wetlands – a key link in the chain of sites connecting Africa and the Arctic, on the East Atlantic Flyway. In a paper in Waterbirds, João Belo and colleagues analyse changes in numbers of waders wintering in this estuary over...
Math Is Still...
Mathematicians Uncover a New Way to Count Prime Numbers
To make progress on one of number theory’s most elementary questions, two mathematicians turned to...
a week ago
To make progress on one of number theory’s most elementary questions, two mathematicians turned to an unlikely source.
The post Mathematicians Uncover a New Way to Count Prime Numbers first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Wanderingspace
Hope for Mars
Nothing really. Just a gorgeous image of Mars from the UAE Hope mission.
over a year ago
Nothing really. Just a gorgeous image of Mars from the UAE Hope mission.
Tikalon Blog by Dev...
Spiderweb Microphone
Microphones convert sound into an electrical signal for subsequent amplification, as in auditorium...
3 months ago
Microphones convert sound into an electrical signal for subsequent amplification, as in auditorium public address systems; or transmission, as in landline and mobile phones. The most common types of microphones are carbon, used in early telephones, condenser, electret, dynamic,...
Explorations of an...
Borneo: Quest For The Bulwer's Pheasant
The Bulwer's Pheasant was one of the first birds to grab hold of my attention when I first flipped...
3 weeks ago
The Bulwer's Pheasant was one of the first birds to grab hold of my attention when I first flipped through the pages of my Borneo field guide many years ago. This pheasant of Bornean hill forest is nearly unbelievable-looking (the male, that is). He has a deep maroon chest and a...
NeuroLogica Blog
T-rex Had Lips
One of the challenges of paleontology is that we are trying to infer and entire animal just from the...
a year ago
One of the challenges of paleontology is that we are trying to infer and entire animal just from the hard parts that fossilize, mostly bones and teeth (and sometimes just teeth). But if we look at animals today there are a lot of details we could not guess from their bones alone...
nanoscale views
New paper - plasmons, excitons, and steering energy
We have a new paper out in Nano Letters (arxiv version here), and I wanted to explain a bit about it...
a year ago
We have a new paper out in Nano Letters (arxiv version here), and I wanted to explain a bit about it and why I think it's a really cool result.
I've written before about the Purcell Effect. When we study quantum mechanics, we learn that the rates of processes, like the...
Quantum Frontiers
To thermalize, or not to thermalize, that is the question.
If Hamlet had been a system of noncommuting charges, his famous soliloquy may have gone like this…...
8 months ago
If Hamlet had been a system of noncommuting charges, his famous soliloquy may have gone like this… To thermalize, or not to thermalize, that is the question:Whether ’tis more natural for the system to sufferThe large entanglement of thermalizing dynamics,Or … Continue reading →
Casey Handmer's blog
We can Terraform the American West
Why is there almost nothing on the left hand side of the USA? Water scarcity! We’re missing 300...
a month ago
Why is there almost nothing on the left hand side of the USA? Water scarcity! We’re missing 300 million Americans. We’re missing 30 global cities west of 100 degrees longitude. We should do something about it! The western US is a parched opportunity to create millions of acres...
Math Is Still...
Computer Scientists Establish the Best Way to Traverse a Graph
Dijkstra’s algorithm was long thought to be the most efficient way to find a graph’s best routes....
a month ago
Dijkstra’s algorithm was long thought to be the most efficient way to find a graph’s best routes. Researchers have now proved that it’s “universally optimal.”
The post Computer Scientists Establish the Best Way to Traverse a Graph first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Blog - Practical...
What Really Happened During the Yellowstone Park Flood?
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Every year, a deluge of...
over a year ago
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
Every year, a deluge of tourists stream into Yellowstone National Park, America’s first and possibly most famous national park, and (I would argue) one of the most beautiful and geographically rich places on...
Math Is Still...
In the Gut’s ‘Second Brain,’ Key Agents of Health Emerge
Sitting alongside the neurons in your enteric nervous system are underappreciated glial cells, which...
a year ago
Sitting alongside the neurons in your enteric nervous system are underappreciated glial cells, which play key roles in digestion and disease that scientists are only just starting to understand.
The post In the Gut’s ‘Second Brain,’ Key Agents of Health Emerge first...
The Roots of...
What I’ve been reading, September 2023
A quasi-monthly feature. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find them...
a year ago
A quasi-monthly feature. Recent blog posts and news stories are generally omitted; you can find them in my links digests. I’ve been busy helping to choose the first cohort of our blogging fellowship, so my reading has been relatively light. All emphasis in bold in the quotes...
Math Is Still...
Data Compression Drives the Internet. Here’s How It Works.
One student’s desire to get out of a final exam led to the ubiquitous algorithm that shrinks data...
a year ago
One student’s desire to get out of a final exam led to the ubiquitous algorithm that shrinks data without sacrificing information.
The post Data Compression Drives the Internet. Here’s How It Works. first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Damn Interesting
Fifteen Years Forsaken
Editor’s Note: This article contains quotations from contemporaneous accounts which might be...
over a year ago
Editor’s Note: This article contains quotations from contemporaneous accounts which might be offensive for today’s readers.
The moon was new on the night of 31 July 1761, and the wide expanse of the Indian Ocean uniformly black. But Captain Jean de Lafargue of the French cargo...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
The Ins-and-Outs of Cancer Care Navigators With Laura Stratte | Out-Of-Pocket
What are cancer care navigators and what issues do they face?
a year ago
What are cancer care navigators and what issues do they face?
The Works in...
What did Henry George think about cities?
Solving the terrible urban conditions of the 1800s by abolishing cities
7 months ago
Solving the terrible urban conditions of the 1800s by abolishing cities
Math Is Still...
Animal Mutation Rates Reveal Traits That Speed Evolution
The first large-scale comparison of mutation rates gives insights into how quickly species can...
a year ago
The first large-scale comparison of mutation rates gives insights into how quickly species can evolve.
The post Animal Mutation Rates Reveal Traits That Speed Evolution first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Math Is Still...
In a Fierce Desert, Microbe ‘Crusts’ Show How Life Tamed the Land
Extreme microorganisms carpeting the Atacama Desert in Chile illuminate how life might have first...
a year ago
Extreme microorganisms carpeting the Atacama Desert in Chile illuminate how life might have first taken hold on Earth’s surface.
The post In a Fierce Desert, Microbe ‘Crusts’ Show How Life Tamed the Land first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
"Non"-Profit Hospitals | Out-Of-Pocket
"We're investing in ourselves"
a year ago
"We're investing in ourselves"
wadertales
Juvenile settlement in Black-tailed Godwits
Adult waders tend to be exceptionally consistent in their use of time and space, with marked...
3 months ago
Adult waders tend to be exceptionally consistent in their use of time and space, with marked individuals turning up on the same estuaries at the same time year after year, as discussed in the Whimbrel blog ‘Whimbrel: time to leave’. How do these patterns become established? Do...
Math Is Still...
How the Ancient Art of Eclipse Prediction Became an Exact Science
The timing of the total eclipse on April 8, 2024, will be known to within a second, thousands of...
8 months ago
The timing of the total eclipse on April 8, 2024, will be known to within a second, thousands of years after fearful humans first started trying to anticipate these cosmic events.
The post How the Ancient Art of Eclipse Prediction Became an Exact Science first...
Probably...
Happy Launch Day!
Today is the official publication date of Probably Overthinking It! You can get a 30% discount if...
a year ago
Today is the official publication date of Probably Overthinking It! You can get a 30% discount if you order from the publisher and use the code UCPNEW. You can also order from Amazon or, if you want to support independent bookstores, from Bookshop.org. I celebrated launch day by...
Explorations of an...
El Valle Encantado (The Enchanted Valley), And A Bump In The Road
January 19, 2023
It is not always easy to find trails worth exploring in the Andes, and the reason...
a year ago
January 19, 2023
It is not always easy to find trails worth exploring in the Andes, and the reason for this is simple. The extreme topographical changes in the mountains, combined with frequent rainfall and thick vegetation do not lend themselves to the construction and regular...
Math Is Still...
How Pools of Genetic Diversity Affect a Species’ Fate
A new, deeper understanding of how the breeding structure of species affects their genetic diversity...
a year ago
A new, deeper understanding of how the breeding structure of species affects their genetic diversity is giving conservationists better tools for saving animals.
The post How Pools of Genetic Diversity Affect a Species’ Fate first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Redox and The Future Of Integrations | Out-Of-Pocket
Actually...what is an integration lol
a year ago
Actually...what is an integration lol
Math Is Still...
Strangely Curved Shapes Break 50-Year-Old Geometry Conjecture
Mathematicians have disproved a major conjecture about the relationship between curvature and shape....
7 months ago
Mathematicians have disproved a major conjecture about the relationship between curvature and shape.
The post Strangely Curved Shapes Break 50-Year-Old Geometry Conjecture first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Many Worlds
The Makeup of Red Dwarf Solar Systems May Seriously Limit the Formation of Habitable Planets
Jupiter is often described as the “big brother” planet of our solar system that made the formation...
a year ago
Jupiter is often described as the “big brother” planet of our solar system that made the formation and evolution of Earth possible. In the early days of the solar system, massive Jupiter helped the planet grow rapidly while serving as a gravity well that shielded the planet from...
NeuroLogica Blog
The Next Step in Space Travel
The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced they are developing their own commercial space...
a year ago
The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced they are developing their own commercial space capsule. This will be used initially for cargo, but then eventually for crew as well. They anticipate a maiden voyage in 2028. I think this is a positive development. It seems we are...
Chris Grossack's...
A truly incredible fact about the number 37
So I was on math stackexchange the other day, and I saw a cute post
looking for a book which lists,...
a year ago
So I was on math stackexchange the other day, and I saw a cute post
looking for a book which lists, for many many integers, facts that Ramanujan
could have told Hardy if he’d taken a cab other than 1729. A few days ago
OP answered their own question, saying that the book in...
The Works in...
The End of Combustion Vehicles
The final section of Ch.2 of Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress
a year ago
The final section of Ch.2 of Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress
Stephen Wolfram...
On the Nature of Time
The Computational View of Time Time is a central feature of human experience. But what actually is...
2 months ago
The Computational View of Time Time is a central feature of human experience. But what actually is it? In traditional scientific accounts it’s often represented as some kind of coordinate much like space (though a coordinate that for some reason is always systematically...
Chris Grossack's...
Preprint -- The RAAG Functor as a Categorical Embedding
After almost a year of sitting on my hard drive, I finally had time in
August to finish revising my...
a year ago
After almost a year of sitting on my hard drive, I finally had time in
August to finish revising my new preprint on
Right Angled Artin Groups (Raags). And in September I had time to put
it on the arxiv for people to see! Within 24 hours I had an email from
somebody who had...
Out-of-Pocket Blog
Silly little rules in healthcare | Out-Of-Pocket
The industry is chock full of ‘em, here's 3
6 months ago
The industry is chock full of ‘em, here's 3
Math Is Still...
How Is Science Even Possible?
How are scientists able to crack fundamental questions about nature and life? How does math make the...
6 months ago
How are scientists able to crack fundamental questions about nature and life? How does math make the complex cosmos understandable? In this episode, the physicist Nigel Goldenfeld and co-host Steven Strogatz explore the deep foundations of the scientific process.
The...
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